The Obama administration was delivered a massive blow in its effort to regulate the financial industry. A judge struck down the “Too Big to Fail” designation of MetLife Corp. (MET) as a company that is "systemically important" to the U.S. economy. Shares of MET stock jumped more than 5%, as the designation would have brought the company under the regulatory eye of the Federal Reserve and would have changed its capital requirements to far more conservative levels.

The simple and easy to understand chart shown below quite clearly illustrates why the Fed has no option but to lower interest rates. Central bankers worldwide have already embraced negative rates, so it is just a matter of time before our central bankers are forced to walk down the same path.

The big news this week is a report that activist hedge fund Starboard Value is pushing to remove the entire board of directors at Yahoo! Inc. The Wall Street Journal first reported on a letter that indicates Starboard is preparing to nominate nine directors to the company's board of directors, as the hedge fund remains discontent with the turnaround effort under CEO Marissa Mayer.
This would be the largest company to ever have its full board of directors replaced by an activist investor.